Daily Archives: February 20, 2013

Unlocking the Secrets to Finding Great Writers to Produce Your Content | Bedford Realtor

In an age where content is the new gold standard of web-related and social media marketing; it’s time to start producing great content or find someone who can.Unlocking the secrets to finding great writers to produce your content

Content marketing is part art and part science. It needs to touch hearts and minds.

Anyone can write, the real feat comes not from putting words on paper, but from producing artistically crafted and genuinely interesting pieces of content that evoke a desired emotion from your readers. In Internet marketing, that’s done by creating something informative that leads your customers to a desired action.

Just because anyone has the ability to put words on paper, doesn’t mean they can deliver your message in a concise and convincing manner. Everyone has the ability to write, but that doesn’t mean everyone is a good writer. Quite the contrary, actually. If you’re someone who isn’t confident in your writing ability, it’s time to look for outside help.

But what exactly are you looking for when it comes to hiring a content production specialist?

I get asked this question all the time, so I wanted to take a second to explain exactly what I’m looking for when I’m seeking writing help.

Timeliness

Deadlines are nearly as important as the actual content the writer produces. If you can’t be on time, then you’re just causing more work for me and I can’t have that. I don’t have time to chase you down looking for content that I assigned a week ago and I’m sure most business owners feel the same way.

Voice

A good writer has a definitive voice. In short, you can typically tell they wrote something by their style and delivery. I tend to avoid generic content writers as they are a dime a dozen. I’m looking for something distinctive in a writer’s delivery and ability to tell a story. This writer stands out from the pack by being creative, unique and a cut above the rest.

It’s a hard characteristic to describe, but you’ll know it when you see it.

Adaptability

Writing academic papers might require a more fact-driven and dry approach than producing blog content. A good writer knows how to differentiate the two. Good writers are able to adapt their voice and style based on where the content is being published. Bad writers carry the same style across all formats and this doesn’t really lend itself to producing content across multiple channels. They might be great at blogging, but you’ll need a second writer to produce whitepapers, e-books or research papers.

I typically like writers who are adaptable enough to create content across multiple channels as well as in different formats.

Research

The best content uses statistics or facts to drive home the point the writer is trying to convey. Does your writer use numbers or facts in his writing? If it looks like the writer could open up Word and write the article without referencing anything, the content generally isn’t up to the standard we’re looking for. We want someone who can research any topic in order to produce a great piece of content.

Obviously they aren’t going to be experts at everything, but you won’t be able to tell based on their writing alone.

Availability

I don’t want a writer who is booked solid weeks in advance. I need someone that has the flexibility to deliver content when I need it. We’re not talking about placing unreasonable demands on time, but a 500-word blog post isn’t something I want to wait a week for. If the writer can’t turn around most short projects within 48 hours or so, I tend to move on to those who can. This is one of the most profound arguments for hiring professional, full-time writers rather than hobbyists and those that use content as a means to derive a second form of income.

Finding writers isn’t easy, and finding good writers is exponentially harder. It’s much easier to retain a good writer once you have him, than it is to find another one once he moves on to greener pastures. Find yourself a writer that produces above average content and do whatever it takes to keep him happy. In the age of content marketing, it’s a writer’s world; we’re just living in it.

Guest Author : Chris Warden, CEO of Spread Effect, a leading content marketing and publishing house company.

 

 

Want to learn how to create great content for your social media marketing?

My book – “Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.

It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog.

I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 135,000.

Download and read it now.

19
inShare

US housing starts dip but remain at solid pace | Cross River Real Estate

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. homebuilders began work at a slower pace in January than in December. But all of the drop occurred in the volatile area of apartment construction, which sank 24 percent. By contrast, the rate of single-family homebuilding rose 0.8 percent.

Even with the overall decline, the pace of home construction in January was the third-highest since 2008 and was evidence of continued strengthening in residential real estate.

And in an encouraging sign for the rest of the year, applications for building permits, a signal of future construction, topped December’s rate. Applications for permits are at their highest point since mid-2008.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders started work at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000 homes last month. That was down 8.5 percent from December, when housing starts had hit an annual rate of 973,000, the most since June 2008.

Analysts had expected a decline on January construction, given the sharp gain in December. December had initially been reported at an annual rate of 920,000. On Wednesday, the department revised up the December pace to 973,000.

January’s was only the second drop in construction in the past six months. It still left the annual pace of homebuilding 23.6 percent higher than a year ago.

Economists noted that building permits keep increasing. Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist for BTIG, said the increase in permits suggested that the January decline in construction starts would be temporary and that “as the year progresses, housing starts will continue to push higher.”

Greenhaus said he wouldn’t be surprised if construction starts topped 1 million for 2013.

The U.S. housing market is slowly regaining its health after stagnating for roughly five years after the housing boom collapsed. Steady job gains and near-record-low mortgage rates have encouraged more people to buy.

A steady rise in prices reflects, in part, fewer homes for sale. The supply of previously occupied homes for sale has reached its lowest level in more than a decade. And the pace of foreclosures, while still rising in some states, has slowed sharply on a national basis. That means fewer low-priced foreclosed homes are being dumped on the market.

Those trends, and the likelihood of further price gains, have led builders to step up construction. Last year, builders broke ground on the most homes in four years.

For all of 2012, builders started work on 780,000 homes. That was still only about half the annual number consistent with healthy markets. But it represents a 28 percent jump from 2011. And it was the most housing starts since 2008, when construction was still falling after the housing bubble burst more than six years ago.

Sales of new homes jumped nearly 20 percent last year to 367,000, the most since 2009. Still, many economists don’t foresee a full housing recovery before 2015 at the earliest.

The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that confidence among U.S. homebuilders slipped in February from a 6 1/2-year high in January. Many builders reported less traffic by prospective customers before the critical spring home-buying season begins.

The home builders’ sentiment index dipped to 46 in February from 47 in January. It was the first monthly decline in the index since last April.

Readings below 50 suggest negative sentiment about the housing market. The last time the index was at 50 or higher was in April 2006, when it was 51. It began trending higher in October 2011, when it was 17.

Many builders are facing higher costs for building materials and having trouble obtaining financing for construction. Some also are facing a shortage of workers in markets where residential construction has picked up sharply, such as Texas and Arizona.

Though new homes represent only a fraction of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to statistics from the home builders.

By region, January’s decline in home construction was led by a 50 percent drop in the Midwest and a 35.3 percent decline in the Northeast. Analysts saw both declines as likely weather related. Construction rose 16.7 percent in the West and 4.1 percent in the South.

9 startups that are out to change the real estate business | Katonah Real Estate

9 startups that are out to change the real estate business

Company founders, CEOs detail their thinking

At Real Estate Connect New York City, the founders of these technology startups shared how they intend to change the real estate business. Featured on this panel discussion are:

Imraan Ali, co-founder and CEO, NuOffer
Tony Cappaert, co-founder, Contactually
Pierre Gaubil, CEO, Sensopia
John Kobs, co-founder and CEO, Apartment List
Anthony Longo, founder, BlockAvenue
Bill Lyons, CEO, Revestor
Jimmy Mackin, co-founder, Curaytor.com
Drew Uher, co-founder and CEO, HomeLight
John Williamson, CEO, Ucloser

Real Estate Connect San Francisco takes place July 10-12 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.